Sean Spicer interviewed by special counsel team

Author:
ABC News , WHAS

Published:
9:36 PM EDT October 17, 2017

Updated:
9:36 PM EDT October 17, 2017

(ABC News) -- Former White House press secretary Sean Spicer met with members of special counsel Robert Mueller’s staff Monday as part of an expanding probe into Trump associates’ possible collusion with Russia on interference in the 2016 presidential election, according to sources with direct knowledge of the meeting. The news was first reported by Politico.

Spicer, who left his post as President Donald Trump’s first press secretary in August, follows his former boss and longtime ally Reince Priebus, who met with investigators last week.

In an interview with last month, when asked about the Russia investigation by ABC News’ Paula Faris, Spicer provided a consistent response to repeated questions on the subject, saying, “I’m not going to discuss that issue at all.”

An attorney for Spicer, Chris Mead, declined to comment when reached by phone by ABC News.

Members of Mueller’s team have indicated they’re interested in speaking with additional current and former White House staffers, among them White House counsel Don McGahn and communications director Hope Hicks.

In June, ABC News reported that Mueller requested that White House officials preserve any records related to Donald Trump Jr.'s 2016 meeting with a Russian lawyer at Trump Tower in New York.

ABC News also reported that Mueller wants to talk to some top aides who were involved in crafting the initial statement Trump Jr. gave in response to inquiries about the Trump Tower meeting, according to a source familiar with the conversation. Donald Trump Sr.'s adviser and son-in-law, Jared Kushner, and then–campaign chairman Paul Manafort also attended the meeting.

Mueller, the source said, is interested in learning the extent to which the president weighed in on the statement, along with whether anyone else was involved in its crafting. ABC News has reported that Trump Sr. was personally involved in the crafting of that statement.